A bit of ringside reporting on the events and news from the dressage stable of Watermark Farm in Oxford, PA. We offer lessons, training, sales and competition services for all levels of horse and rider.
The main website is www.watermark-farm.net

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Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Working on a Wednesday!

Wednesday!

So today has been pretty amazing! I started with a good long hack on Wyatt! He’s been working hard the past few days and needed a day to replenish his energy, so we hacked around the property a bit with his new buddy Rubicon and Austin. We did not work on any thing fancy - just watched horses in their paddocks, a trash truck, several cyclists and a handful of joggers passing by the front gates. A very pleasant ride and nice break from the intensity of training the harder work.

Speaking of harder work - I got to watch multiple riders working on their seat and the connection from the hindquarters up through the back into the poll. Very, very educational and informative to watch the subtleties of the work and body mechanics of both horse and rider!! Lots of instantaneous improvements and dramatic changes for the horses - nothing is a better indicator of what is happening behind the saddle than to see the influence of the seat!

Wendy had her lesson with Catherine today and was a very good girl. A lot of the focus is still on getting her to take longer steps behind - which allows her to elevate her forehand and have more suspension without becoming quick or hasty. Catherine had been helping several other riders with making sure their knees are where they belong on the saddle, so it was fabulous to then apply what I had seen to my own ride and then feel the big improvement in the way Wendy was going! Very dramatic and a strong reminder that if it is not going as well as I would hope or feeling the way that I would like - it is probably my seat/hips/knees blocking her forward energy and nothing more! It is never the horse’s fault - only mine!

So the afternoon awaits with more horses to care for and stalls to muck. Hopefully the north is not too snowy or slick and Spring puts in an appearance shortly!!